Tom Burns comes to the Franklin Fellows program from Novozymes, a leading biotechnology company headquartered in Denmark. Having held a variety of positions during his 16 years with the company, Tom most recently was a technical manager in the biofuels division, supervising a team of chemists and engineers focusing on the grain-to-ethanol conversion process.

Previously, Tom was based at the Novozymes subsidiary in Brazil, and along with an earlier career as a secondary-school science teacher he has over 11 years' experience living in Latin America. He is a 1981 graduate of SUNY Brockport.

As a Franklin Fellow, Tom will lend his expertise in the areas of alternative and renewable energy to the DOS Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, where he is supporting projects in three offices – Science and Technology Cooperation, Global Change, and Space and Advanced Technology.